Vatican City, Vatican.- A call for peace, justice, reconciliation and mercy, especially with the most vulnerable people, was made by Pope Francis to the world here today for Christmas.

In his traditional message ‘Urbi et Orbe’ (From the City to the World), the Supreme Pontiff affirmed that ‘the light of Christ’ prevails over the darkness existing ‘in human hearts’, ‘in personal, family and social relationships’ and ‘in economic, geopolitical and ecological conflicts’.

In this sense, he asked that this light touch ‘so many children who suffer from war and conflicts in the Middle East and in various countries of the world’ and that ‘the little Child of Bethlehem’ be a hope for the entire American continent, ‘where various nations are going through a period of social and political upheaval.

May it revive – he specified – the beloved Venezuelan people, long tried by political and social tensions, and not fail to receive the help it needs.

‘May he bless the efforts of all those who are working to promote justice and reconciliation and who are working to overcome the various crises and the many forms of poverty that offend the dignity of every person,’ he stressed.

Francis referred with the same good wishes to ‘Ukraine, which aspires to concrete solutions to achieve lasting peace’, and to ‘the peoples of Africa, where social and political situations persist which often force people to emigrate, depriving them of a home and a family’.

He also invoked the protection of God for those who ‘because of these and other injustices, must emigrate with the hope of a secure life’, forced by injustice to cross deserts and seas, transformed into cemeteries.

Injustice, the Pope said, forces them to suffer indescribable abuse, slavery of all kinds and torture in inhumane detention camps. Injustice deprives them of places where they could hope for a dignified life and makes them encounter walls of indifference.